Richard Ebeling Discusses Austrian Econ and Mises on RTTV

Richard Ebeling writes: 

On Thursday, November 13th, I was interviewed on the “Boom-Bust” segment on RT television on Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle, especially in terms of its important and continuing relevance in the context of current Federal Reserve monetary policy with its easy money policies and interest rate manipulations of the last several years.

Introduction to Democracy: The God that Failed

World War I marks one of the great watersheds of modern history. With its end the transformation of the entire Western world from monarchical rule and sovereign kings to democratic-republican rule and sovereign people that began with the French Revolution was completed. Until 1914, only three republics had existed in Europe — France, Switzerland and after 1911, Portugal; and of all major European monarchies only the United Kingdom could be classified as a parliamentary system, i. e., one in which supreme power was vested in an elected parliament.

Nathaniel Branden,R.I.P.

Nathaniel Branden died today. He was for many years the leading follower of Ayn Rand and  lectured widely on her philosophy of Objectivism. He and Rand split in 1968, and after that his main work was in the psychology of self-esteem. He was by all accounts a dynamic and effective lecturer. For a brief time, Murray Rothbard and his followers in the Circle Bastiat met with Rand and her group, and through these meetings Rothbard came to know Branden.

Politicians to Business Owners: Drop Dead

Senator Ted Stevens once explained that the Internet is a “series of tubes” and “not a big truck.” Steven’s comments made me a little sad, since I worried we’d never again hear such idiocy from a senior government official. Had we reached peak stupid on Capitol Hill?

There was a ray of hope a few years back when Congressman Hank Johnson shared, in Committee, his fears that if too many people move to Guam it might “tip over and capsize.”

Johnson is a well-known fool, though, so I was cautious yet. Maybe we just got lucky. Maybe stupid really was over.